Parking charges set to be introduced at Southwater Country Park

Horsham District Council owns the village’s country park and while car parking is currently free the operational costs of running the attraction have increased due to a rise in visitors following the opening of the Dinosaur Island adventure play area last July.

The country park has two designated car parks off Worthing Road and Station Road and a seasonal overflow car park at Ben’s Field.

Charges would be £1.50 a day from March to September (10am-6pm), and 50p a day from October to February (10am-4pm).

These would be payable by a scratch-card parking vouchers, and would apply every day of the week including bank holidays.

A £30 season ticket could also be made available for regular users of the park.

HDC were given permission to introduce the charges at a West Sussex County Council North Horsham County Local Committee meeting on Monday night (June 13).

At the meeting Jonathan Chowen (Con, Cowfold, Shermanbury and West Grinstead), deputy leader and cabinet member for leisure and culture at HDC, reiterated the commitment to funding any Traffic Regulation Orders if parking is displaced to residential areas of Southwater.

He told county councillors that ‘some people are very good at parking and some people are very naughty’, but they did not want to inconvenience residents.

Mr Chowen added: “Managing success is difficult but it’s much more fun than managing failure.”

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